Critera of Life
by Darcyjackal
Summary: Every living thing must follow the Laws of Life; however, Maddie wonders if Phantom can somehow follow these laws as well. The fact that he is a ghost is putting a knick in her plans, but what if Phantom can follow the Laws of Life?
1. Chapter 1

_**Yeah another story! This one will be six chapters long, and somewhat humorus. Happy reading!**_

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**Chapter 1—Reaction**

The criteria for life gives a set of goals that an object or thing must reach in order to be classified as alive—scientifically anyway. The first of these six goals is reaction. A creature must react to the changes in its environment—such as summer changing to winter, the creature must react to the dramatic changes in weather and sudden decline in food. A good example of this is a bug and a rock.

The rock, no matter what happens, will always sit there, unmoving and unresponsive to its environment. The rock could care less if it was snowed on or rained on by the sky. It will sit and do nothing else except maybe erode. The bug however is very different. It will move around and most certainly feel the change in weather from summer to winter. A simple reaction to this change in season would be for the bug to climb under the rock to protect itself—so in conclusion, a reaction must be given to change for the organism to be classified as alive.

These thoughts roved around in Maddie's mind as she watched the two ghosts above the RV battling it out—no doubt over territory or some such thing. One of the two ghosts was the well known Phantom; the teenage ghost seemed set on avoiding her lately. Not that he hadn't done this before, but lately, he was more reclusive than usual. He would normally make an appearance or two in town if it was quiet, but she wasn't even aware of him then.

She had stopped hunting Phantom in her normal fashion as of late. The ghost just couldn't be confronted face-to-face like any other ghost, and this was what sparked Maddie's curiosity. No, she wanted to study this ghost first. He was so different from the others and it caused her sleepless nights as to why he was so different—a deviant from his kind as she classified him in her mind.

With her studying, she would find out new things about this ghost, and then capture him for experiments. Who knows, perhaps she was staring at a new breed of ghost without even fully knowing it.

The random ghost that Phantom was fighting had fled, but Phantom wasn't pursuing. She wondered why this was, but she wouldn't be able to get her answers since he wouldn't talk to her. Phantom looked at the area around him, doing a 360 in the air. Maddie hoped he didn't notice the RV—sure it was cloaked, but somehow, Phantom always knew they were there in the bushes when they tried this trick before.

He didn't seem to notice the vehicle now because he took off, a little slowly in her mind. Not wanting to lose him, she got out of the RV and cloaked herself, running after the low-flying ghost.

_Subject seems unaware of my presence, _she cataloged in her mind. _Also seems careless of others seeing him. He is flying very low, maybe thirty feet off of the ground. This might suggest that he is hurt and is retreating to his lair to patch himself up. _

Phantom kept flying low and slow for a while, just shooting in a straight line. It didn't seem he had a set destination, making Maddie wonder even more just what he really was.

He suddenly stopped and turned to face her. Startled, Maddie put on her brakes, stopping just in time before she hit Phantom in the face with her own.

"You can uncloak yourself," Phantom said, narrowing his eyes at her, but it didn't seem to be in hate, it seemed that he was trying to see her.

Maddie knew the game was up, so she did as he said. When she came into view, Phantom cocked his head, as if puzzled over something.

"No weapons," he asked, his voice confused and a little wary. "I don't get it, what's the catch?"

"No catch," Maddie said, putting her hands up. "I only wanted to get your attention."

Phantom chuckled wryly, "Well, after following me for a week, you sure caught it. Now, what are you going to do with it? Gut it and cook it like you would a fish?"

"No," Maddie said seriously, even though she wanted to smack him for using that tone with her. "I wanted to talk with you. I've been observing you for quite some time and I was wondering if you would let me—"

"Shoot me and let you dissect me?" Phantom finished snidely. "Look, whatever the offer is, I ain't buying it lady. I don't work with hunters—the only thing they want is to kill me, so no thanks."

"But that's just it," Maddie said quickly before he could fly away and leave her there. "I've been going over it in my mind, and I know you're different from others of your kind. I don't know how, but you just are. I want to know why—I want to observe you for the criteria of life—to see if you fit on the spectrum."

Phantom paused, looking worried at first but then just really confused and—did she excitement in his eyes? Why would a ghost be excited about working side-by-side with a ghost hunter? Was he planning a trap for her? No, that didn't fit the profile that Maddie pitted him against. Phantom might be powerful, but he sure made a show of hurting ghosts and not people. After looking over some of the fights she recorded, it was apparent that Phantom fought ghosts and pretty much avoided people in general if he could, even if he was blockaded by paparazzi or crazed fans, his reaction was non-violent. He would try to flee from a human situation, a ghost situation however seemed to spark something in him and he fought, seeming to be a ghost hunter in his own unusual way.

Was it perhaps over territory? Were the other ghosts flying in Phantom's space and this didn't bode well with the ghost? What made the other ghosts hate Phantom so much? Why was Phantom so content living here than in the Ghost Zone where the ghosts belonged?

So many questions popped into Maddie's head as she stood there, staring at Phantom's green eyes as he stared back at her violet ones.

"So what does that entail?" Phantom asked, breaking their eye contact abruptly by looking over into the bushes.

"What does what entail?" Maddie asked, having lost her train of thought.

"This criteria-study-thing you want to do on me," Phantom said. "Does it involve needles and sharp, teary, pointy objects?"

"Oh no," Maddie shook her head. "No, I just study you in your environment, and I might want to talk with you about a few things later. The last test does involve a sample, but I would think with all of the plasma you leave around it wouldn't be a big deal."

"The ecto-plasma dissolves pretty when exposed to the air and sunlight," Phantom said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You might need a sample directly from the source."

"Would you be willing to do that?" Maddie asked.

"We'll see," Phantom looked at her again. "I'll let you watch me and what not, but you got to stop when I say you stop, and you can't follow me everywhere. If I want to lose you, I will lose you."

"But you'll let me do my study?"

"So long as I don't get blasted in the butt again," Phantom muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Oh thank you Phantom," Maddie could have hugged him if he wasn't a floating ball of subconscious, or maybe he wasn't—it would depend on the results. "Can you meet me at my house tomorrow say around seven?"

"In the morning?" it sounded like a whine. "Yeah sure, whatever."

When Maddie walked into her kitchen the next morning, she gasped and staggered backward a little to see Phantom, reclining in one of the table chairs, feet propped up on the table and chewing a piece of gum without much thought as he raised an eye brow at her reaction.

"Scare you?" he asked, cheek bulging slightly as he pushed the gum away from his tongue so he could talk coherently.

"You're early," she said, eyes wide from her shock as she glanced at the clock on the stove.

"No ghosts to fight," he shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. "I didn't want to be late so I took the chance to be early to a meeting for once. That and I wanted to be sure everyone else was gone. Call me paranoid, but I was wondering if this was a cleverly disguised trap."

"Oh no," Maddie shook her head. "Jack's away at his mother's house for a while and my children are away for the summer. It's just me and you Phantom, no one else."

Phantom didn't nod or anything, but he went back to chewing his gum and looking around the kitchen, as if admiring it, but he didn't seem interested in it at all.

"Um, let me shower and get dressed," Maddie said, looking down at her sleep wear. "I'll be ten minutes."

"I don't have to be anywhere," Phantom said as she ran back up the stairs to get ready for the day.

The ghost hadn't moved when she came back down into the kitchen. The only thing different was the bubble that had just popped and covered his nose when she came down. He stuffed it back into his mouth and watched her walk around and grab something for her breakfast. Surprisingly, he put his feet on the floor when she came over to set her bowl down and poured the milk over her cereal.

"So, how is this going to work?" he asked after he gave her a chance to eat a little of her meal.

"Well, I had an idea that maybe you're different from other ghosts. I couldn't think of many ways to prove this, but doing the Criteria for Life tests on you should verify if my theory is correct," Maddie said, taking another bite when she was done.

"Why don't you just ask me if I am different? Doesn't that mean you just need a yes or no answer?" the ghost asked, looking confused.

"No, I have to know _why _you're different, otherwise my theory is wasted on other people who would benefit by listening to it.

"You still didn't really answer my question."

"I guess not. Well, there are six different criteria for life. All we have to do is put you in situations where living life forms will react according to the laws of life. If you react in at least some way similar, then that's one step closer for you to be classified as alive."

"But ghosts are dead—as in non-living. Why waste this hunk malarkey on me?"

"Because, I have a gut feeling about you. Ghosts shouldn't follow the laws of life at all, but if you even react to a few of them in a positive way, that means you are different by many measures."

"So it's like a test—if I get most right, I'm classified as alive?"

"No; unfortunately, in the science world, you have to follow all six laws to be classified as alive."

"So, if I even fail one, I'm not classified as a living, breathing, feeling thing?"

"Well, I'm not sure about the breathing and feeling part, but living no."

Phantom looked massively disappointed. His face fell, as if hoping to be classified as something he obviously was not. Maddie wondered about that, but she didn't question him. She had worked hard to get him here, and she wasn't about to mess up and lose him—and her opportunity to study this odd specimen. A sort of resolve hardened Phantom's face and he looked directly at her with a cocky smile.

"I'll pass," he said a little cheekily. "So what's the first test?"

"There will be six, one for each law," Maddie explained, pushing her empty bowl to the side. "The first one is reaction. Every life for must react to the changes in its environment in order to survive."

"Well, how are you going to do that?" Phantom asked, looking perplexed. "It's not like you can change the seasons or wreak mayhem in the streets without being arrested."

"That's not really what I had in mind."

"This is so stupid," Phantom grunted as he flew over the town, the RV just under him with Maddie at the wheel.

"Seen any ghosts yet Phantom?" Maddie asked him over the Fenton Phones, checking her tracking equipment.

"No," he said rather clipped over the com. "I normally try to stay out of trouble! Why would I go looking for it! The things I do to not get shot at—"

He gasped sharply and Maddie stopped the RV as she saw him pause in the air.

"There's a ghost around," he said, his voice low and quiet.

"My scanners don't show anything," Maddie said, lightly tapping the radar screen. "The only ghost I'm picking up is you."

"It's down, at the mall," Phantom said, flying to the right and heading down a one-way street—the wrong way.

"Oh," Maddie exclaimed, moving the RV forward so she could take a different route to the mall.

She put the vehicle to a halt in the parking lot, just seeing Phantom phase into the walls from her view point. She put a gun in her belt and headed inside, contacting Phantom on the Phones.

"Did you find it?" she asked, though in her mind, she was sure she already had her proof that Phantom reacted to his environment.

He had seemed to change suddenly. He had been a normal grumpy teen until that gasp, than he became serious and started to seek out the trouble. That was a reaction—that was her proof. She was about to tell Phantom to quit, that she had what she wanted, but she heard the ghost sigh in annoyance over the com.

"Not you," he whined tiredly.

"I am the Box Ghost!" someone else shouted on Phantom's side of the Phones. "You shall not—"

There was a short burst of static and then Phantom was by her side, wearing the same annoyed expression that he had left the house with.

"Are we done?" he asked raising a brow at her.

"Yes, we are," Maddie said, a little lost for words—she never knew he could fly so fast.

"So, do I pass?" this time his expression was one of question and expectance.

"Actually yes, you do," she said, surprising herself at her words. "You seem to react instinctively when other ghosts invade the town. You then go to the source to fix it. A little vague I'll admit, but more then I was hoping for."

"And it's only noon," Phantom said, looking at a watch that she didn't notice he kept on his wrist. "Well, see ya tomorrow."

He saluted and flew off without another word from her.

When she got home, Maddie wrote down everything that had happened and all of her observances. Phantom did seem to have a tie to the town, and the fact that he had reacted in a violent way towards another ghost was making her think that territory was a factor in his haunting style after all. She was really looking forward to the next test tomorrow—Adaption.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Something is cooky with my computer. Anyway-here's chapie 2. **_

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**Chapter 2-Adaption**

Phantom seemed to learn from his mistakes. Maddie had been awake for a full hour before he scared her by appearing in the living room as she was coming out of the kitchen. While her hand flew up to her heart, he looked at her, looking somewhat sorry, but that smile on his face told her he was having more fun scaring her.

"I tried making noise," he said, truly looking sorry this time. "Sorry."

"You can't help it," she said, shaking her head and running a hand through her hair. "I'll just have to get use to it.

"Well, what's up for today?"

Maddie took a seat beside him on the couch before explaining.

"Well, for every reaction a life form gives, there is always an adaption to the change in environment. Like how mammals shed and grow heavier coats for the winter, or how bears hibernate when the weather changes."

"Or how I beat the snot out of trespassers whenever they come into town?" Phantom asked, slamming his fist into his open hand with a scary looking smile on his face.

"Well, yes," Maddie said hesitantly, thrown off by his attitude. "Is fighting all you think about?"

Phantom's smile disappeared as he looked down at his clenched fist. He brought his hand down and looked at his lap, his slouched position telling Maddie he was a little embarrassed he had acted the way he had.

"I don't see it as fighting," Phantom said after a moment, his voice oddly reserved and serious. "It's survival."

"This isn't the jungle Phantom," Maddie raised a brow at his explanation. "Would you mind giving me more to work with?"

"Ghosts constantly try to top each other. I want nothing to do with it—despite being a fighter; I just wish I was left alone. I don't like to fight unless I have to."

"You fight to protect your territory?"

"What gave you that idea?" Phantom gave her an odd look that said that wasn't the problem at all. "Ghosts like to come here and try to make me apart of them, to do that, they like messing with humans. I've kind of taken it upon myself to kick them out of this world and back to where they belong. I still have family and friends that are alive, and I don't want to see them hurt."

Maddie blinked, changing her theory in her mind rather quickly with this new information. He wasn't a territorial ghost as in land; he was territorial when it came to people. He was protective of his loved ones he had left alone, claiming them as 'his'. He might not see it that way, but that was what Maddie thought. It was the only way to make his obsession fit with his personality—why he was non-violent towards humans and ready to declare war against his own kind.

He was a guardian, not a menace as many people made him out to be—including her.

"Um, how are we going to do this one?" Phantom broke into her thoughts while changing the subject.

"Well, much like yesterday, we go around town looking for a ghost, only this time—I'll record the whole fight so I can better observe you," she answered, getting up to get her video cam. "Ready?"

Phantom tapped the Fenton Phone that was still in his ear from yesterday.

"This should make for an interesting day," he said, phasing through the couch and the ground, only to reappear in the window.

Maddie grabbed her keys and was out the door, right behind him.

"Well this is odd," Phantom said, lying down on the tree limb he had stretched himself out on, "normally the town if filled with ghosts by noon. It's nearly three and no one's shown up. I don't like it."

"You're paranoid," Maddie said, unpacking her lunch.

Not one ghost all day—and Phantom kept talking about how bad it was that they hadn't seen any. Maddie was relieved that they hadn't run into a ghost all day. Every day was taken up with ghosts so it was a nice respite. She thought that Phantom would be happy as well, but she guessed that he had been fighting ghosts for such a long time that he saw this abnormality as a bad sign.

At Maddie's suggestion at a break, Phantom led them over to the park and he had been up in the tree since. Maddie sat down on the bench that rested in the shade of the branches and began to eat a much-wanted lunch. Phantom filled that time grumbling out odd plots that he theorized from his enemies that could explain the absence of the ghosts. Some of them seemed ludicrous to Maddie.

"What makes you think this Plasmius could possibly take control of the Ghost Zone and then plan to come here just to kill you?" Maddie asked when she heard him grumble that odd plot.

"He won't kill me," Phantom said aloud, "he wants me to be his son."

"And you don't?"

"Of course not! The guy is a fruitloop. He's gone as far as to kidnap me to cloning me to get the perfect son. I think _I'm _his obsession now, and I don't like it one bit."

"Hmmmm," Maddie hummed in thought. "Very odd for a ghost to be another ghost's obsession. I never thought of that possibility."

"Well, Plasmius isn't all ghost," Phantom seemed to be speaking as if he was treading on glass. "You see, he's like me, different."

"And you're different because you aren't all ghost?" she asked, thinking how impossible that was.

Phantom didn't say anything. Maddie looked up into the tree to see the ghost boy looking down on her with a far-away look in his green eyes.

"He's the only other one like me," Phantom said quietly. "He's offered a home for me, helping me with my powers, acceptance into something that wouldn't make me feel like a freak—but it had too steep a price, so I turned him down."

"And what was the price? To turn your back on humans?" Maddie asked.

"In a way, if I ever turned my back on my morals, I would become a monster. I would lose my humanity."

Maddie stared at him, lunch forgotten. How could a ghost have humanity? Morals sure, but humanity? It was impossible! Ghosts were dead, they weren't human anymore so they couldn't possibly have any more humanity—unless. . .

"Impossible," Maddie shook her head. "There's no way that could happen."

"Huh?" Phantom asked, not catching what she said.

"Nothing, just musing."

The sudden strike of thunder right over their heads startled Maddie and knocked Phantom out of his tree. He got on his feet as Maddie watched the rapidly darkening sky, the clouds rolling towards them at high speeds. The wind was pulling at her hair and making her eyes water. After another clap of thunder, the rain was coming down in buckets, striking so heavily and hard that it actually hurt to be under the clouds.

Maddie was about to run for the RV when the rain suddenly stopped. She opened her eyes to see everything tinged an unearthly green, the rain continuing to pour outside and making muted thumping noises on the green dome.

"You alright?" Phantom asked her.

She turned her eyes down to him, watching him wring his white hair dry over his face. He sputtered when the dripping water hit his face. Maddie chuckled a little, finding it rather comical.

"Can't you just turn intangible?" she asked.

Phantom face palmed his face with a sharp slap.

"Duh," he said under his breath and promptly turned intangible to get rid of the water. "You need a dry off?"

Maddie didn't feel a hundred percent—her wet hazmat material sticking to her, making her skin feel heavier by the moment. However, the thought of having a ghost touch her was not a pleasant one. Phantom didn't wait for her approval though and grabbed her wrist. There was a quick tingling sensation, the trickle of water as it slid off her now transparent form, and then Phantom's hand was gone and she was solid once again.

"Amazing," she said, looking at her now dry hand, then she looked back up at the dome. "Did you do this?"

"Yeah, I don't like getting wet," he said, shrugging and sitting down on the bench after making it dry as well.

"Phantom, don't you realize that you just adapted to the change in the weather?" she asked him.

"All I did was put up a shield," he said as if it was no big deal.

"That's adaption Phantom. You simply put up a shield to block the rain. Most ghosts would just fly through it right?"

"Well yeah, but most ghosts don't mind getting wet or don't get cold," Phantom shivered slightly at the thought. "I hate both. Normally, I'm indifferent to the weather as well, but water is different somehow."

"Hmmmm," Maddie thought again as she sat down next to him. "That is odd. However, that's even more of a reason to do these tests. Just because you aren't as tolerant as other ghosts to our weather, it still states that you are different. The thing is though I don't know how _exactly _you are different. The only explanation would be that you're a hybrid or something of the like."

Phantom ducked his head and looked at the ground, shuffling his feet on the ground uneasily.

"That's it isn't?" she asked, dumbfounded. "You're a hybrid."

"Don't go blabbing it," he said moodily. "Not many people know and I would like to keep it that way."

She could imagine why. If others caught onto this idea, it could spell bad days for Phantom in the future, most of them with lab tables and dissecting tools. She was highly curious as to how this could be herself, but she didn't want to see him get taken away from his home. If a ghost was taken away from his haunt, it could spell disaster for everyone involved. Now granted it had never happened before, but all theories and signs pointed to a bad time.

"I won't say anything," she said.

Phantom looked up at her in shock and she gave him a reassuring smile. He gave a tight shy smile back before looking up into the sky to watch the rain fall.

_Is it possible that this ghost could have any trace of humanity? _Maddie thought as she watched the boy stare up at the sky. _Well, he certainly doesn't act like a mindless drone, bound to his obsession. He thinks, he connects, and he cares—all signs of at least something of him being human. The appearance and powers would put anyone off, but his whole attitude and demeanor is too familiar, too human to be a mark against him. Something is definitely human about Phantom. _

Maddie's eyes opened wide when she saw Phantom yawn and stretch his arms lazily.

"Tired?" she asked.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," he said thickly, rubbing his eyes. "I never get much sleep anymore."

"Why don't you lie down?"

"Can't, what if a ghost attacks?"

Maddie chuckled, seeing some of her husband in the boy with that statement.

"I'll wake you up if there's a ghost."

Phantom nodded and leaned back against the bench, closing his eyes and his head lolling over almost instantly in sleep. After a few moments, he slipped down and his head landed on her shoulder. She could feel his even breaths as he subconsciously made himself more comfortable against her side. Maddie stroked some of his hair out of his eyes and wondered at how he was able to breath and sleep like this. Her theories about him being human were dashed as she realized that they were _right._ The only explanation was that Phantom had some humanity left, and human anatomy.

She could feel his very solid form against her own. She moved her hand to his arm and felt the well muscled biceps and shoulder. Her hand traveled down to his chest where she felt yet more muscle as well as the expansion of the hazmat suit as he breathed, but what made her freeze was the constant _thump-thump _of his heart beat.

"A heart?" she asked herself, looking down at what she now to be a human hybrid ghost.

As impossible and insane as it sounded, there was no denying it now. Phantom was a human with ghost powers—a freak of nature. He must feel very alone in this world now, thinking he didn't fit in with ghosts or humans.

"But I don't get it," she said, frowning now. "If he is a hybrid, there should be some sort of evidence as to his death. Ghosts show off their scars that got them killed all of the time."

Curiosity taking her over, Maddie gently lifted Phantom's left arm and looked at it. She felt his skin through the hazmat material and felt something crunch under the glove. Being delicate and quiet, she pulled the glove off to investigate and gasped, horrified at what she saw. The skin was dead and shriveled, looking as if someone had tried to barbeque it and left it over the coals for way to long. She didn't think he was a burn victim because burns would be all over his body, but there was one other explanation—electrocution. Phantom had been shocked to death—or rather half dead.

She put the glove back on and put his arm back at his side. He hadn't stirred at all the whole time. Maddie was begging to think she should call this all off. She shouldn't mess with a fourteen-year-old in a delicate situation like this. He now trusted her, even though he obviously hadn't before.

But, the question that she thought of now was this hybrid really alive, or would he be considered dead when he was found out. There was no way he could keep a secret like this quiet for much longer. Someone was bound to find out the truth sooner or later like she had. She owed it to him to find out if he was alive or not—to see if he was still human all. Now she understood why Phantom seemed disappointed at the table yesterday morning when she said he had to pass all of the tests to be considered alive—he didn't want to be thought of as dead, and she didn't either.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the next one . . . um yeah. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 3—Reproduction**

Maddie was in the lab the next morning, nervous as if a giant ghost lion had popped up in the room and she was defenseless. With her thinking about Phantom being a hybrid—a theory that she wondered if she should just throw away despite what she had witness yesterday during the storm—she had forgotten one little detail: the next test. Having gone over these in her mind months ago, she had written them down and when she came to the third one, her mouth went dry.

"Oh no, I forgot about this one completely," she said, looking at her notes with wide fearful eyes. "There is no way he is going to go for this."

"What am I not going to go for?"

Maddie yelped and spun around, finding Phantom floating innocently enough behind her.

"Um," she was having trouble telling him.

"Well, spit it out," Phantom urged her along. "It can't be that bad."

"Well, it actually might be," Maddie was getting so nervous that he would drop the whole thing that she was wringing her notes in her hands. "Umm, the uh, next test is a little . . . detailed and um . . . personal."

"Like I have to tell you my whole life story and then my after-life story?" Phantom asked, half joking, being completely clueless—just like her son could be sometimes.

"Um, no—it's completely biological," Maddie reached to her right at the table and held up a small tube.

Phantom quirked an eyebrow at her, confused as to her motive.

"What exactly is the next test?" he asked skeptically.

"Well," Maddie could feel her cheeks getting red, "in order for any living thing to survive, there has to be a lot of them."

Phantom still said nothing, clueless still.

"There, need to be males, and females Phantom."

He tipped his head to the side, unable to decipher her meaning.

"The birds and the bees?" she asked, hoping that would help.

"Oh!" Phantom backed up high into the air, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling in his shock. "No freaking way! I am not going to do anything that requires . . . that!"

"Phantom, it's just a way of life," Maddie tried to calm him. "Everything has to reproduce if they intend to survive. I don't know if ghosts are capable of such a thing, but if what you say about being a hybrid is true, then aren't you curious?"

"I'm fourteen!" he shouted down at her, his face becoming a very bright shade of red in his embarrassment. "I don't think about that kind of thing! Why isn't a beating heart enough to classify me as living!"

"Sometimes I question it too, but science is science."

"I hate science," he muttered darkly. "It's done nothing for me—except get me killed."

Maddie's interest was locked onto that phrase at once, but she figured she wouldn't push him any more at the moment. She cleared her throat nervously, catching his attention once again.

"You don't have to do it," she told him. "Just remember that everything we came up with and everything afterward is null if you don't do this test. Everything will have been for nothing."

Phantom's face was still red, and he looked furious but stuck between a rock and a hard place, and the space between the two objects was getting smaller by the minute. After some dark muttering that she didn't hear, he floated down reluctantly and snatched the tube out of her hand.

"We never speak of this again," he said low and dark, pointing in her face, looking very pissed off. "We never even _think _of this moment for the rest of our lives. We don't leave a trace of evidence behind us except for your notes that you will keep under lock and key. If anyone found out about this, I would die of embarrassment—well the rest of me would anyway."

"Promise," she vowed, "this is just as uncomfortable for me as it is for you."

"I doubt that," he all but growled as he disappeared from sight.

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It was nearing dusk when Maddie came up the stairs from the lab, finding Phantom gorging himself on some of Jack's fudge at the kitchen table.

"Jack will be furious when he finds out you ate his fudge," she said seriously.

"Then we don't tell him," Phantom said simply, almost back to his old self after that morning.

He licked some of the chocolate off of his fingers before talking again in a more serious tone.

"So, uh . . . what did you find?"

Maddie slammed her notes down on the table and placed her hand on the folder.

"This is staying in my secret stash," she said seriously. "If anyone got a hold of this—I can't imagine how much disaster there would be."

"That bad?" he asked, looking very self-conscious.

"Well, you pass is all I can say," Maddie said with a slight smile. "However, I don't like what else I see. With all of this DNA, it makes almost no sense to me. It's all twisted and backwards; I can't head or tail of it. I destroyed the uh, sample like you conditioned, but I really wish I could study your DNA further. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Well, how would that be bad?" Phantom asked, a little confused.

"Your DNA is compatible with other species Phantom. I think it helps you overshadow people, since taking over a body is impossible for a human to do. That's its only good use; if the GIW got a hold of this, they would start experimenting, trying to make the world's greatest soldiers with this information."

"So I'm the key to an apocalypse," he frowned, an unknown emotion flitting across his face, but Maddie knew it wasn't an uplifting feeling. "You won't do anything with it will you?"

"It would be unethical," Maddie shook her head. "To put a human-being through that? It would be horrible; painful enough to kill them. Changing their whole molecular structure is unethical and completely crazy. What happened with you was an accident, a fluke that you lived, but if people start doing it deliberately?" she shook her head again. "I can't even think of it."

"But, I pass?" he asked, sounding uncharacteristically quiet.

"Yes; surprisingly, you are able to have children. With either ghost or human if you wish, but like you said—you're fourteen. No need to be thinking about those things now."

"Preferably for a long time," Phantom said, blushing slightly. "Or never. My life is dangerous, I don't want to put anyone in the middle of it if I don't have too."

Maddie nodded her head, but she thought back to that morning and remembered something.

"Phantom, you said something earlier that has me curious," she began, catching his attention pretty quickly—he looked worried. "You said that science got you killed. What did you mean by that?"

He avoided her eyes quickly, finding the floor much more interesting.

"It has to do with my death, I don't want to discuss it," he said, body shifting nervously.

"Alright, I don't have a right to know that yet. I've only known you for three days after all," she said calmly, hoping to calm him back down as well.

She was a little disappointed that he hadn't told her, but she was glad he hadn't lied to her either. Phantom glanced back up at her, looking relieved, but he returned his gaze to the table top.

"So, where are Danny and Jazz?" Phantom asked casually.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked skeptically.

"Just fishing for conversation, besides, you're leaning boat loads about me, I want to know things about you."

It was only fair, and Maddie knew it. She let go of her paranoia and relaxed into a normal conversation for once around the ghost boy.

"Jazz is off visiting another college campus," Maddie explained. "And Danny is off at some kind of camp. I really don't remember—but he really wanted to go. Oddly enough, I don't remember paying for him any kind of trip. It just came up out of the blue last week when he told us."

"Yeah, funny how things like that happen," Phantom looked nervous, but Maddie couldn't imagine why.

She was about to say something about it when Phantom gasped sharply and his breath fogged up right before her eyes.

"What was that?" she asked, confused and fascinated.

"Ghost, here," Phantom said quickly, standing up from his chair and looking around for the disturbance. "It's in the lab."

He got up and walked quickly down the stairs. Maddie followed him, after grabbing her camcorder from the kitchen counter to record the fight.

"Skulker!" she heard Phantom yell as she rushed down the stairs.

Maddie recognized the metallic ghost that floated in front of the ghost portal, a giant cross bow on its arm as it aimed and shot at Phantom. The ghost boy dodged the arrows deftly, being much more agile then Maddie thought possible. The metallic ghost looked angry that Phantom had dodged his shots.

"I will have your pelt this time whelp!" it shouted, moving to the heavy artillery as it a bunch of guns sprouted from its shoulders.

"When will you get it?" Phantom asked, putting up a shield as one of the guns fired at him. "You will never win!"

Phantom dived quickly under the barrage of bullets and socked the robot into the get, sending it flying into a table, knocking over everything on it.

"Please keep the lab in one piece!" she yelled, knowing that she would be the one to have to clean that up—again.

"Sorry!" Phantom shouted at her as the robot got back on its feet.

For a moment, Maddie thought the ghost would rush Phantom, but at the last minute, it spotted her. It made a mad dash for Maddie and caught her wrist, hefting her off of the ground.

"You always did have a soft spot for the warm bloods Phantom," Skulker said, grinning evilly.

Maddie, scared that a ghost had its paws on her, looked up at Phantom for help. She saw a fury so deep and pure that she thought impossible in the ghost boy.

"Don't you dare harm her," Phantom shouted at the robot, his voice becoming more ghost-like with every syllable he spoke.

"And what will you do if I do?" Skulker asked, throwing Maddie over into the wall.

She felt her head crack against the tile and heard Phantom shout something in a worried voice before she blacked out.

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"Maddie, Maddie can you hear me?"

Maddie groaned softly, finding herself in her living room on the couch. Phantom was in front of her, looking worried.

"Phantom?" she asked, her wits not completely back yet.

"Yeah, are you okay? I tried to stop Skulker before he hurt you, but I failed," he sounded disappointed.

"Where is he now?" she asked, sitting up.

"In the Zone, licking his wounds," Phantom said, but he wouldn't leave her condition alone. "How's your head? He gave it a pretty good crack."

"I'll have a killer headache in the morning, but I'm okay," she said, feeling the pain coming dully. "I've always had a thick skull."

"Do you want me to come over tomorrow? I don't want to bother you while you're not feeling well."

"That's considerate, but I'll be fine. Come over at the normal time and we'll run the next test."

"Okay . . . are you sure you're okay being by yourself tonight?"

"Phantom, why so protective suddenly?" she asked, smiling.

"I . . . feel responsible. I don't want you to get hurt, I like you too much."

Maddie froze at that; she hadn't expected to become part of the ghost's obsession, no matter how endearing he was being in wanting to look out for her.

"Phantom, I'll be fine," she said, failing to say what she meant. "Don't worry about me. Just go home and get some sleep of your own."

"I'll be fine without sleep," he argued, but Maddie cut him off.

"Believe it or not Phantom, but you're still growing, I think. We'll know tomorrow. Please, go home and get some rest."

She got up and didn't wait around for Phantom to talk. She went straight to bed, not bothering to see if Phantom had left. Sometime in the night, she half woke to a cold feeling in the room; Phantom again. She stayed where she was, hoping that he would pass by and go like she told him. Instead, he came closer to the bed and put a gentle hand on her head.

"I promised you awhile ago that I would never let anything hurt you," he said quietly, confusing her with his words. "I intend to keep those words, Mom."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Yes it is incredibly short, but I am almost done. Two more chapters and a short epilog will be the end of it. _**

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**Chapter 4—Growth**

Maddie Fenton had a hard time sleeping after Phantom had left. She had stayed up most of the night, mindlessly turning her clock off when it blasted its alarm at her and going through the methodical routine of getting ready for the day.

Had she been dreaming? She had to have been! There was no reason for Phantom to call her 'Mom' without good reason. Perhaps the ghost was delusional, thinking her as a replacement for his mom. Perhaps he had been sleep walking last night –well sleep flying in his case—and just mumbled those words to her in his sleep. Plausible, but they didn't set well with Maddie as the right answer—neither of them did.

As she got ready to eat breakfast, she came across the camcorder on the kitchen table. Phantom must have brought it up last night after the ghost attack. Curious, she sat down and picked up the battered piece of equipment and pushed the play button. Amazingly, it was still able to play the tape, with jerky movements and unfocused moments after she had been unconscious yes, but it was still unbearably clear as to what had happened after she blacked out.

The camera got everything after it had fallen from her grasp.

"Mom!" Phantom shouted, his face looking worried as the camera crashed to the floor and set the picture sideways. "You'll pay for that Skulker!"

Phantom had then gone into a blind fury. His aura was so bright and so terrifying that Maddie had to turn the tape off, but Phantom's voice and face at the beginning of the tape was enough to confirm what she had feared. He really thought that she was his mother.

"Did I take this too far?" she wondered, terrified of this outcome after she didn't need Phantom any more. "The only reason he would call me that is if I really am his mother."

Maddie sat stock straight for a moment in her chair as it hit her. Slowly but surely, she began to think back, to almost a year ago, when the portal first started working.

_She and Jack just got in the door when they heard screaming from down in the lab. Terrified that one of their children was hurt, they rushed down the stairs and came upon the glorious sight of the portal—up and running as they had dreamed since college. Danny and his friends were down in the basement, all three looking worried and freaked out of their minds. Danny looked the worst, pale and barely keeping his knocking knees under him so he could stay on his feet. _

_"What happened down here kids?" Jack asked as he went straight for the controls to make sure everything was safe. _

_"We just . . . it came alive," Tucker blabbered out in his fright._

_"Yeah, we uh just looked inside and it blew up on us," Sam said, looking a little more coherent then the boys. "Um, we think Danny got a little shock though. He was the closest and it was spitting some strange stuff at us."_

_"Oh my baby," Maddie went to her youngest and looked at him. "Are you alright hun'? You must have had quite a scare."_

_"Uh . . . I don't know," Danny's gaze was unfocused as he looked at her. "I can't really remember, but I felt something shock me." _

_He brought his left hand up to his face, but there was nothing to suggest that he was hurt. After looking him over, Maddie sent him up to his room and when she checked on him, his friends were gone and he was asleep in bed, still in his street clothes. He must have zonked out once he got up to his room. She took his shoes off and tucked him in, making sure he was comfortable before leaving to help Jack keep the portal stable. _

"What if it wasn't a little shock?" Maddie asked herself. "It would explain so much, but why would he keep it a secret, if he has a secret to keep that is. I mean, I have no idea where he is now, so why wouldn't Phantom show up if he knew for certain that I thought Danny Fenton was somewhere else nowhere near Amity Park? Why else trust me with this information? Why else call me mom when he thought I couldn't hear?"

She sat in silence for a moment, clutching her mug so tightly her hands were turning white. Something tapped her shoulder and she jumped. She turned to see Phantom standing behind her, looking sheepish.

"Sorry, I tried to be loud, I knocked," he said, but he frowned when he saw her face. "You okay? You look pale."

"Um, yeah, I just—I guess I'm not completely recovered from last night," she hesitated to answer, but the excuse was all she could come up with.

"Oh, well I wouldn't want to stop you from resting."

He jumped up to leave, but Maddie stopped him.

"Phantom no, this test should just take a second," she said and got up and walked down to the lab.

She was surprised to find it clean and in repair after the fight last night. She clearly remembered a table and its contents being knocked over. She looked at Phantom with a raised eye brow.

"I tried cleaning up the mess," he said, looking embarrassed at being caught. "I hope that's okay."

"It's very considerate of you," she said, but said nothing more about the subject.

She went into the computer, brought up a file, then began to scan the pages.

"Okay, this is the file constructed on you almost a year ago when you appeared," she explained to Phantom who was hovering over her shoulder. "It holds all of the GIW's information on you, even your height as of a year ago. If you've grown any, we'll know by measuring you now."

The file read 5ft 2ins as of a year ago. It was easy enough to have Phantom stand on the ground and her measure him with the yard stick, but she had to tell him twice to not slouch—teenagers. When she was able to get his full height known, it displayed 5ft 4ins.

"A whole two inches and a year? Wow, you can expect quiet a growth spurt in the future Phantom," she said as she wrote down the results.

Inside, she was quaking. That was how tall Danny was now. She remembered that very plainly at his last doctor's visit.

"That's it?" Phantom asked in surprise, but sounded pleased. "Well. I guess I'll be going then. Ghosts have showed up and I got to track them down."

"Bye Phantom," Maddie muttered after the boy after he phased through the basement walls. "Note to self, coat lab walls in some anti-ghost resin so they can't pop in whenever they want."

Maddie frowned as she looked at the results again. Phantom passed yet another test, two more and he would officially be labeled living, and if he was labeled living, then people would start looking for his human half. Although Maddie was pretty sure that the ghost boy was her son. Now that she thought about it, Phantom sounded like Danny. To her groggy mind last night, she had wondered if Danny got back early from wherever he was, but when she registered the cold hand, she knew it wasn't Danny.

Phantom displayed a lot of her son's attributes, as well as the over protectiveness he often had when Vlad or one of Jazz's boyfriends was around. Could it be that Danny had known Vlad had been after Maddie since the billionaire and he had met? After learning of his intentions in the Rockies, Maddie had understood why Danny was so hostile to the man, but that still didn't explain the ghost powers—if he had any that is.

Putting the papers down, Maddie rubbed her temples, that headache from last night rearing its ugly head. She went upstairs, took a few aspirin and went back to bed, tired and strung out from thinking her son was a ghost.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Another shorty. :), but you'll hate the cliff hanger. **_

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**Chapter 5—Energy**

"Are you alright Maddie?"

The hunter took her eyes off of her plate of lunch and looked at Phantom. He looked worried, head cocked to the side and eyes smoking with concern—so much like Danny. She let her spoon drop into the bowl of soup she had been eating and pushed it away.

"No Phantom, I'm not okay," she said quietly. "I have a really bad feeling, and it won't go away."

Phantom now looked confused, his eye brows furrowing in the middle of his forehead and his mouth open slightly—just like Danny.

Maddie was sick of seeing her son in this ethereal being. She had no evidence to suggest that her son was a ghost, but her mind just wouldn't put this nightmare to rest. As a result, she had asked Phantom to come back that afternoon when he showed up that morning for the next test. She wanted to keep her face straight and her mind on her work, but it was almost impossible when it could be her son she was doing this too.

"We can stop," he said, kicking Maddie out of her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, not comprehending.

"We can stop these tests if you think it will—end up in a bad way," Phantom said, looking for the right words. "I will completely understand if you want to quit."

Maddie just stared at him. Of the both of them, he had the most to gain if he past all of these tests. It would declare him alive, thus hunters like the GIW would leave him alone and stop hunting him. Why would he suddenly decide to drop it?

_Unless he thinks I know, or it's his hero complex and he's trying to do the right thing if he thinks _that _is what is bugging me. _

"No Phantom, let's continue with that. I don't think the tests will matter with what I'm thinking," she said, and she knew she was right.

The tests wouldn't matter what they said about Phantom—if he was her son, she wouldn't care if he was alive or dead, and even if he wasn't, Phantom was different from other ghosts, and she knew she would be working with him, not against him, in the future.

"Okay then," he said unsure but went on anyway. "What's the next test anyway?"

"Oh. It's an easy one. The next law states that all living things obtain energy then expel it. The best example of this is a dog eating food then using the energy to run and chase cars or something like that."

"Then this should be easy!" Phantom said, excitement over coming him and he started to hover over his seat. "I'm chalk full of energy."

He held out his hand and summoned an ecto-plasma blast into his palm. Maddie smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Yes you do, but I have to determine how you absorb your energy," she said heading for the lab.

Phantom followed without his usual hesitation or mumbling. He sat down at one of the tables and was quiet as Maddie hooked up a few wires to his hand and face. They were suction cupped so it wasn't painful in anyway. She hooked the wires to the computer for readings, getting into the right program as she gave Phantom instructions.

"Okay, just summon energy into your hand when I say, that should give me enough to go on."

Phantom nodded and waited. Maddie gave him the queue and he did as he was told. The green ball in his hand glowed brightly, casting the whole basement in an eerie different light that oddly pleased Maddie. She had always been fond of green for some reason.

Her computer started to print out the readings as she kept an eye on the graph. The fluxing in the data stream told Maddie that Phantom's energy was more stable than other ghosts. Ghosts always had the fear of falling apart when they ran out of energy, whether it be a year to a hundred years, but Phantom showed no signs of deterioration. It was the most stable ghost Maddie had ever seen by these charts. It was as if his human side was playing a role in making sure his ghost side didn't burn him up.

"Uh, can I let this go now?" Phantom asked.

Maddie blinked then nodded. Phantom let the energy dissipate and started to slowly pull the wires off of his face. Maddie got their first before he could damage them and began to take them off. When the last one was taken off, she let her land linger on his face, feeling the planes of his face—to see if it was Danny's face.

"You're a good boy," she told him and she meant it, Danny or no.

Phantom looked very confused, than ducked his head as his face became red. He obviously wasn't use to that kind of praise. Maddie smiled and ran a hand through his white locks, so soft and tangled just like Danny's. He looked up to meet her eyes, wondering why she was acting this way—it was clear in his eyes that he was confused as to why she was acting this way. Not saying anything, Maddie took the wires off of his hand and put them to the side to put away later.

"So, what does the computer say?" Phantom asked, staying where he was.

"Well, you have no fear of burning out," she said, still smiling. "You're very stable for a ghost your age. You seem to be able to take the energy from somewhere inside of you and then expel it into the power of your choice."

Phantom fumbled with something at his neck as Maddie looked up at him. He pulled down a sipper from the neck line and it exposed a rather muscled chest, as well as a scared one. He slipped his jump suit off from his left shoulder, Maddie could just see the burned area of his arm where it faded into the clean white flesh of his shoulder. He put a hand over his heart area and it started to glow an odd white. When he took his hand away, it was gone.

"My core," he said, looking into her eyes. "It's what keeps me alive, where all of my energy is stored, and where I feel the most pain," he stopped, but Maddie gestured for him to continue. "When I feel guilty, my core causes me great pain. My emotional distress can become very physical for me if it's powerful enough. But, when I'm happy and determined, I can do anything. Maddie, this is my source of life. If anyone shot me here, I would die, I know I would. Call it instinct or whatever, but I just know it."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, walking over to him.

When she stopped before him, Phantom grabbed her hand and placed it over his core. It felt warm and soft, nothing like the rest of him that was hard and cold. She could feel it beating inside of him—what she had thought was his heart was really this core he was talking about now. She could also feel something else, but she wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't a physical feeling. It was as if Maddie was suddenly happy with this ghost, all of her troubles gone. He would protect her to the death if he had to and she felt that in him—he would die for her. Phantom let his grip loosen and she brought her hand down.

"I want you to know that I am what I say I am," he said simply, shrugging his suit back on and zipping it back up. "I want you to trust me, I just put my life in your hands, be careful with it."

He jumped up and phased through the walls before she could speak.

Maddie didn't know what to think. She sat down in her chair, watching the computer screen flicker to the bouncing-ghost screen saver. She didn't know Phantom would do such a thing. What he meant by his life, he meant the knowledge of how to kill him. She could blab it to the whole world, about how ghosts had cores that could them easily if they were shot—it was like saying to shoot a person through the heart.

Why had he done that? If that was truly her son, why had he done that? Maddie rubbed her eyes in desperation. The thought that Phantom passed yet another test was in the very back of her mind. This new knowledge of his core was something different. Why would he expose his one weakness to her—unless he wanted Maddie to know in case something happened to him.

Maddie's eyes became saddened and worried at the same time. Did he truly think that something would come and get him soon? Or was he just trying to get her to trust him? With information like that, she would have to give something just as deep—like her suspicion that he was her son. How could she accuse him of being her son? If Danny was a ghost he would have told them, right? Surely he wouldn't want to get shot at by his parents and other people? Surely he wouldn't want to go fight ghosts all of the time like Phantom did? Danny had never been interested in ghost hunting before—but if he had been turned into a ghost, then those interests would definitely change.

It was just too confusing to think now.

"Oh Danny, are you really Phantom?" she asked the computer screen, not noticing the invisible body floating right above her head and hearing her every word.


	6. Chapter 6

_**I'm thinking about not doing that epilog now, it would be kind of interesting to leave it here-or do i have something else planned? **_

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**Chapter 6—Cells**

"Don't even think about it," Maddie said sternly.

Phantom floated over to her front, looking stunned.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked.

"I've gotten use to knowing when you're around," Maddie said, smiling.

"Well, you're looking better today. Head ache gone?"

"Yes."

And it was, but her heart was beginning to hammer in her chest and she wondered if ghosts had good hearing. Maddie had decided to tell Phantom her theory about him after the latest experiment. She had to know, put these ridiculous fears to rest.

"The last test today. Wow! Has the week really gone by that quickly?" he asked, a pleased smile gracing his young features.

"Yes, it has unfortunately. Ready?"

"You bet, what's up for today?"

"Well, the last law is pretty simple—all living things must be made of cells. All I need is a skin scraping and we're done, but I want to talk to you after I have the results."

"Uh, okay. What about?"

"Just things, things that will happen after these tests are done."

Phantom shrugged and beat Maddie to the lab. The skin sample was easy to obtain, but Maddie was careful to notice that he undid the glove on his right hand and not his left. She scraped, he flinched slightly, but any redness left by the scrapper was gone in a few seconds as the irritation left him. She put the sample under a scope, telling him it may take a while to get the results. Phantom left and went upstairs into the kitchen—no doubt to raid the fridge again.

It was a few hours until Maddie had her results. She came back up to tell Phantom the news.

"You pass Phantom," she said with a giant smile on her face. "You've passed all six tests, you're alive."

"Really?" he asked; his voice and look saying it was too true to be good. "Really, I pass?"

"With flying colors," she put the results down on the table and sat down as well. "This will change the ghost field forever Phantom, and now you won't get show at now."

"Don't count on that Maddie, but maybe it will get the GIW off of my back for a while. But I really need to thank you. You don't know how long I've been wondering if I'm really dead or alive—and now I have my answer and not just a gut feeling," there were the beginnings of tears in his eyes as he spoke. "You don't know how long."

He whispered the last part, putting his head on the table and wrapping his arms around his face. Maddie got up and patted his back soothingly.

"Oh sweety," she drew him into a hug, feeling him bury his face in her shoulder and his tears causing her hazmat suit to get a little damp. "You're okay, and if you passed or not, I would never think of you as a freak."

Phantom pulled back and looked at her face with blurry wet eyes.

"Huh? You would?" he sounded shocked.

"Of course," she said, whipping away his tears on his cheeks. "I would never think of you as inhuman, not after all that we've been through."

Phantom smiled slightly, but looked very happy if his glowing eyes were any indication.

"Now, I have to tell you something," she began, taking his hands into hers.

"What?" he asked, sobering up and becoming a serious.

"I need to know something, something about you."

"Yeah?"

"Well, it's just that, I've been thinking some ridiculous things lately, and you're the only one that can help me know if they're true or not."

"I can give it a try," Phantom said, but he was beginning to look uncomfortable.

"Are you—"

Before she could finish, Maddie was cut off by the opening and slamming of the front door. She and phantom both got up and looked towards the kitchen door way.

"Mom?" Danny said as he came into the kitchen and froze upon seeing Phantom there. "Why is he here? And why aren't you threatening him?"

"Danny! You're—back," Maddie said in shock. "I was expecting you tomorrow."

"Change in plans," Danny shrugged, "weather got pretty fowl. Big storm blew in so they sent us all home at the last minute. Uh, looks like your guest is gone."

Maddie looked over to Phantom, but saw that his seat was empty. He must have left. Maddie was sorely disappointed, but her fears about her son were gone. He couldn't be here and there at once—but why was her gut telling her that was a lie?

"How was your week?" Danny asked casually.

"Uh, very, interesting," she said, still baffled.

She was so sure that Danny was Phantom, but of course this disproved everything. Maybe she had been harder on the head then she thought.

"I'm just going to put my dirty laundry downstairs in the washer," Danny said, grabbing his bag and taking it down to the lab.

"Okay sweety," she said absent mindedly as he left. "I was so sure."

That night, Maddie was cleaning up the lab when she saw her cell samples from Phantom were gone. She wondered at that, she was sure that she had left them on the counter. It was then she noticed the camera sitting on the table as well, and it was still on. Maybe she could watch the tape and find out where she had put them. She pressed play and watched practically her whole day down here in the lab with Phantom, than it showed Danny—and Phantom in the same room. Maddie watched with a gaping mouth as the Phantom was sucked up into her son's body, his eyes glowing green for a second before turning into his normal blue. His expression never changed—meaning he wasn't over shadowed—that was always one way to tell if someone was taken over.

"Sorry Mom," she heard Danny say over the tape, "but you can't know, it would destroy you."

He picked up the cell samples and disintegrated them with an ecto-plasma ball, even the dust was done in his tightly clenched fist. He had no idea the tape was still recording.

"Oh dear—"

Maddie didn't finish her curse as she raced up the lap steps and then up the main steps to get to Danny's room. She burst through the door, only to find that Danny wasn't in his bed like he had promised hours ago.

"Danny."

She rushed downstairs again, grabbing her keys on the way out of the house. Her throat was practically in her throat now, having a grave feeling that he was in great danger—and the fact that she had been right along was making her ill. She had been hunting her own son, she had made amends with his ghost half, now she had to do it with his human half.

She had the scanner on, searching for his particular signature all over town. She was finally able to get a reading—near the docks. Flooring it, she raced down the pier, her feeling of dread growing as she got closer. Within a mile's reach, she saw green and red blasts lighting up the dark sky, fire dancing in that direction as well.

"Danny! Hold on!" she yelled, hoping that she wasn't too late.

She stopped the RV just within sight of her son and another ghost that he was battling. It was the Wisconsin ghost, also known as Plasmius as Phantom had described him. The two battling hadn't noticed her down on the docks as they were fighting madly in the sky. Danny looked weak, his suit ripped and aura dimming as he threw every punch and attack at his advisory. The other ghost looked tired as well, but from dodging more than actually attacking—there's wasn't much of a scratch on him.

Danny let out a yell and aimed a powerful blast at Plasmius, but the ghost held up a shield and the attack bounced off. Plasmius said something, but they were too high up to hear clearly, and shot off a powerful attack of his own. Phantom was too weak to dodge, too open. He was hit in the chest, howling in pain for a second before he lost air and began to plunge downward. He landed on the docks with a sickening thud, not moving or looking the least bit alive.

"DANNY!" Maddie yelled, and then turned her attention on Plasmius.

The ghost spotted her, but she had a Fenton thermos in her hands before he could do anything. She activated it and he was dragged, howling and screaming into the thermos. She capped the top, panting from her fright, then she remembered Danny.

Tossing the thermos aside, she ran over to him and flipped him on his back. He wasn't moving, but his breathing was shallow. The blast hadn't caught him in the chest, it had caught him on his left, a deadly accurate blow to his core.

"Danny, stay with me," she said, tapping his face to get him to wake up. "Danny you need to stay with me, you can't die. Stay with me."

Not knowing what else to do, she got her cell phone out and began to dial 911.

"Stay with me Danny," she said as the line rang. "Just stay with me."


	7. Epilog

_**Here's the final-now I just have to do one when Jack finds out and maybe Lancer. **_

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**Epilog—**

Danny woke up to see his mother hovering over him—again.

"Mom, what are you doing?" he asked groggily.

After a week in the hospital and worrying about being exposed, Danny was due to have some relaxing time. He was still weak from the fight with Plasmius—who was still trapped in the Fenton Thermos—and all he could manage was to sleep and eat when he was awake.

"I was just coming up to see how you were doing," Maddie said, shifting the blankets back over her son. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't—anything to eat though?"

"It's downstairs, if you want to come and eat."

Danny made a motion to push the covers back, but the movement proved to be ill thought since it made his chest flare up again. He silently cursed Vlad in his mind as he tried hard not to yell. He managed to push himself up and lean against the head board, but that was as far as he was willing to go.

"I don't think I can make it down there just yet," he smiled weakly at his mother.

Maddie frowned, but she nodded her head. She decided to bring it up to him. On her way down the stairs, Maddie thought back on the past week. It was a close call, but Danny had somehow pulled through; to the surprise of everyone at the hospital and herself. She was so afraid that she would lose him, but he proved to be stronger then he looked. After a careful watch, Danny was sent home with strict restrictions to stay at home in bed and rest. The doctors had prescribed some sort of pain killer, but it made Danny unusually groggy and lightheaded—almost making him act drunk. After a quick look at what the medication contained, she made him stop taking it and he didn't argue. She had made her own ghost-pain-killer—a first in her profession of hunting and ripping apart ghosts—and it worked pretty well for her son.

She grabbed the bottle of said medication from the counter; it was quite obvious that he needed another dose. She filled a bowl with a light soup—canned, not homemade since she didn't know what exactly that would do to him right now—and grabbed the Fenton Scanner; a new invention that she thought of while Danny was in the hospital. She wondered about Danny's ecto levels at first and studied the results from the tests last week. Using the scanner, she compared them with the previous readings and was getting a pretty good idea on what would be a normal level for Danny. Right now, it was very low, not surprising since he was hit in his power source—quite literally. However, Maddie was optimistic with each scan; it proved to be useful since it read higher each time Danny woke up from his extensive naps. A few more weeks of rest and he should be back to normal.

"Another scan?" he whined upon seeing the machine in her hand.

"Sorry sweety, but it's necessary," she smiled and placed the bowl in his cold hands. "You don't want to disappear into a steam of unstable vapor do you?"

"No," he grumped, but she could tell he was more interested in the soup than he was with what she was telling him.

The scanner only took a minute to do its job, though the beeping was a little annoying. After looking at the results, Maddie gave a wide grin.

"Well, it seems you're back in a stable level," she said, very satisfied with what she saw. "You should be able to use your powers now if you want."

"I can't get out of bed, why would I want to fly around?" Danny asked.

"Using your powers will help you heal faster sweet heart. It will take longer if you just lay there. You need to stretch your powers like you would a sore muscle to make it stronger."

Danny sighed and put the now empty bowl to the side. Maddie saw him close his eyes and seem to concentrate on something, then a bright light made her close her eyes. When it was gone, she opened her eyes and Phantom was now hovering over the bed, looking a little worn and tired, but he was able to hover and that was a good thing.

"How do you feel?" Maddie asked as she watched him float higher then move over to her side.

"Not a hundred percent, but I'll live," Danny gave a weak smile. "And you're right, I feel better already."

"Then maybe you'll want this."

Maddie held out a black belt, stylized with Danny's Phantom symbol as the buckle and a black and white thermos hooked onto the side along with small pouches all filled with the ghost hunting essentials.

"Cool," Danny said, taking it from her hand and putting it around his waist.

His ghost side seemed to accept the new equipment since it altered the belt the moment it was clicked into place; everything was now inverted in color.

"No Fenton should go out of the house with their own utility belt," Maddie said, laying a hand on her own. "Who knows what you might need."

"Thanks Mom, this rocks. Now I don't have to stuff that thermos into my bag at school anymore, and I like the colors."

"You have more dear, just inside the weapons vault to the left. There's more space in them and they're designed to suck up any ghost without your ecto signature."

"Not being sucked up would be nice," Danny nodded, very pleased. "Does this mean you're going to tell Dad?"

"Telling your father is your job Danny," Maddie said seriously. "I'm not going to tell him, but you have to tell him by the start of the school year. I don't want him to keep hunting you—bad shot or not."

Danny nodded, agreeing with her terms.

"Mom," he started hesitantly, changing back to human, "uh, thanks for not freaking out."

"I'll always worry, but I know you can hold your own," Maddie said, smiling in pride at him. "You defeated the Ghost King when he took over the town, took care of that nasty plant ghost when he invaded the town, that horrible storm ghost was difficult to even get a look at. You can do anything you put your mind too, I trust you out there on your won, just tell me where you are and if you need back up alright?"

"No problem," Danny smiled, giving his mother a hug. "Oh, and uh I might also have saved the future and all of reality at some point in time."

Maddie just stood there after Danny came out of the hug; the downstairs door could be heard opening and Jack's loud voice boomed through the house. Danny had gone down to welcome his father, but Maddie only shook her head.

This was going to take some getting used to.


End file.
